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{"id":2593,"date":"2026-05-04T17:22:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T21:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/?p=2593"},"modified":"2026-05-04T17:25:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T21:25:19","slug":"students-celebrate-fasika-orthodox-easter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/2026\/05\/04\/students-celebrate-fasika-orthodox-easter\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Celebrate Fasika, Orthodox Easter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Students dress in traditional attire for Orthodox Easter service in Boston.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Last month nine Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo students traveled to Boston to celebrate Fasika, Orthodox Easter, at Mekane Hiwote St. Michael Church. We arrived Saturday afternoon, and by the evening we were gathered in the church for Mahlet, the hymns and chants that open the night, followed by Kidase, the Divine Liturgy. There is something incredibly grounding about standing in a space where the prayers, the language, and the rhythm of worship are the same ones you grew up with, and being surrounded by others who feel that same pull made the whole experience feel full in a way that is hard to describe. The Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox community in Boston welcomed us with so much warmth, and being able to connect with fellow followers outside of campus was a reminder that our community extends far beyond Smith.<\/p>\n

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Immersion in Ethiopian culture and food were highlights of the trip.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

What made the trip even more special was everything that surrounded the service itself. Watertown was just nearby, and after breaking our fast together, we shared a full Ethiopian meal, which, after weeks of fasting, felt like its own kind of celebration. We laughed, we ate, we talked for hours. It felt like exhaling after a long time holding your breath. We are so grateful to the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life for covering our accommodations and making the whole trip possible.<\/p>\n

(Reflection written by student leader Tensae Mekonnen ’29)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last month nine Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo students traveled to Boston to celebrate Fasika, Orthodox Easter, at Mekane Hiwote St. Michael Church. We arrived Saturday afternoon, and by the evening we were gathered in the church for Mahlet, the hymns and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":776,"featured_media":2596,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,223,224,323,322,227,274],"tags":[],"coauthors":[268],"class_list":["post-2593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","category-newsletter-articles","category-programs-events","category-reflections","category-spirituality","category-student-posts","category-student-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/776"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2593"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2600,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2593\/revisions\/2600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2593"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/religious-spiritual-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}